I think we can afford one more loss this season, but no more. If we finish 6-1 I think we'll at least share the Big Ten title. That would put us at 14-4. MSU would have at least three losses and I think they'll drop another somewhere, and IU probably will drop two more.

Tomorrow's game is big from the standpoint that if we lose, we have zero margin for error. But it's not absolutely essential for the conference title. We should be favored in all of our last six games, so we can get to 14-4 without winning in Breslin.

We played absolutely awful basketball for the first 15 minutes of the Ohio game, the first half of the Indiana game, and really the whole Wisconsin game (our worst game of the year IMO). We barely lost all three of those games. It's also POSSIBLE (althought I hope not) that we were looking past Wisconsin to MSU.

I think the team will be very pumped up for this game, and even if we only play at 90% of what we're capable of I think we have a great shot at beating this Spartan team. If we jump out to an early lead and take the crowd out of it, I think it can be a relatively scare-free game that we come out of with an 8-10pt victory and put ourselves in a great position to win at least a share of the Big Ten.

I hope you're right, but everything you state in your post highlights the one unfortunate trend for this team; we struggle against quality competition on the road. Here's to hoping that we buck that trend tomorrow. Be nice to get through this 10 day, 4 game gauntlet at 2-2. We'll be well positioned to take the conference title under those circumstances. Go Blue, Beat State.

I feel we should be #3 behind Indiana and Miami. Duke may have only two losses but they got blown out by 30. We've lost our three games on the road by a combined 14 points. Losing after a half-court miracle in Wisconsin is more impressive than being taken to the wire by BC.

Duke should not be up there. Who have they beaten? Unranked Minnesota and NC State? Yeah, they beat OSU, big deal so did we. They've also taken an absolute beating, and all of our losses have come down to the wire. Meanwhile, we've beaten #s 10, 13 and 16, and have only lost to #s 1, 13 and 20.

Duke should have lost to fucking Boston College! Michigan hasn't kept it close with anyone who isn't elite, certainly not this late in the season.

This but I'm not sure we are a top 5 team right now, at least until we can beat a quality team on the road. The last 3 games, albeit, tough and without Morgan, have really opened my eyes on this team. A win against a quality opponent on the road might change my attitude but lately our youth as started to show.

And that is another thing I keep reminding myself but then again we didn't look great against Ohio at home...but then I remind myself that the B1G appears to be a good conference. Still I would like to see us win a tough one on the road.

Good thing you're not a Duke fan. Duke lost at Miami by 30. Miami is traditionally quite a hostile environment when they can get 200-250 fans to attend.

Our losses on the road were all close and to #1 Indiana, #13 OSU and #20 Wisconsin.

My Sparty buddy sent me a text on how Big Ten road games are statistically more difficult than any conference in the nation. Within Home and Home series in Big Ten play, Home court advantage is worth 4.79 points vs the national average of all conferences being worth 3.4 points.

I got the shotgun. You got the briefcase. It's all in the game though, right?

Gonzaga: 1-2 vs. ranked teams, beating Oklahoma State while losing to Butler and Illinois. Not playing another ranked team for the rest of the season. Also, they've played a remarkable number of teams who I've never heard of before (Campbell, Lewis-Clark St., Southern Utah). I've never understood the love-fest with a team who plays the easiest schedule I've ever seen.

PS-Can we please just stay ranked #2 for the rest of the season? I don't want to risk being #1 going into either Tournament.

the fact that somehow Gonzaga got not one but two first place votes is a total joke. They are not a top 5 caliber team. We would wipe the floor with them, just like we did to the team that beat them, Illinois.

Miami's 3 best wins are MSU at home, Duke at home without Kelly and at NC St. by a point without their PG. They lost by 12 to Florida Golf Coast and got destroyed by Arizona on a neutral court. The ACC is awful. Its Miami, Duke, NC St. and the other team that looks to be near the bubble is Virginia, who lost to 3-21 ODU and two other mid pack CAA teams. They also beat BC by a point. I fully expect Miami to lose at Duke.

Their basketball program seems to recruit (maybe not lately) a lot like their football program. Highly athletic players with suspect fundamentals and technique. Granted they did take a Duke team known for fundamentals and technique out to the woodshed but teams like that can either be very streaky or very off. Based off the eye test, Miami doesn't scare me. At every position we either beat or match what they can provide at any given time. As we've seen on various occassions this year, home games can offer a big advantage no matter who your team is or who you're playing. All those close losses on opposing campuses should sway a bit into close victories on a neutral floor. Conference tournaments can give a glimpse into how a team will fare leading further into March.

IMO tomorrow night we're playing for being on the #1 seed line in the B1G and the NCAA tourny. After the MSU game the gauntlet is over and all our difficult games are at home plus Morgan should start to return to health. Win tomorrow and it is possible - no probable - we don't lose again until the Indiana game to close the season. That would put us at 27-3 heading into the season finale and in all likelyhood, an undisputed B1G regular season championship. And if we win tomorrow we could even suffer an unexpected loss (either MSU or Indiana at home) and still claim a #1 seed in the NCAA's.

There is a LOT riding on tomorrow's game. Lose and we put MSU in the drivers seat for the B1G title and #1 seed in our tourny (sorry Indiana - you're about to start your gauntlet now) and if MSU wins the B1G tourny they likely grab a higher seed than us in the big dance.

Agreed. This is a discussion I'd like to have (and maybe in a few points I would create a thread), but I'd like to know how others interperet MSU as a basketball rival (we know they're not thought of highly on the gridiron). I also would rather wait to see the outcome of the game before we debate how important beating them is.

It would make a good thread, doing a poll for rivals order, going something like:

Basketball)
Hockey)
Other)

Honestly if we're playing the "if you can only win one game" scenarios, I'd take MSU in both basketball and hockey. I don't really have a preference for a forth sport because both are terrible at softball.

Anyway, here are the points you need. Make your thread, it's a good discussion to have, especially today. After posting the thread, you need to make sure to make one more post in the next twenty-four hours. It was only three points, so they expire tomorrow.

"We bring you to Michigan to take care of Michigan; your job is to protect that block M."
-Carol Hutchins

Have we ever dropped out of the top-5 this year? I don't thin kwe have which is pretty neat!

What I think is weird about rankings is the need to drop a team with losses and rise with wins regardless of context. Duke barely beat a terrible BC team on the road and we lose to a very good Wisconsin team on the raod due to a buzzer beater- yet they jump us... At least Indiana didn't drop- although that has more to do with so many other top teams losing.

Beefs- Miami is undefeated in the ACC and killed Duke who has two conference losses- Miami also beat MSU- they shoudl be ahead of Duke... Gonzaga- a little too high in my opinion- but ohh well- they will bow out of NCAA tournamanet early as usual- I nbever realyl worry about their rankings- just think it's silly they are so high. Voters seriously think they are better than MSU?

we have not been lower than 5 at any point in the season, since that was where we started the year. Our loss to OSU dropped us from 2 to 5, we got back up to 1 before losing to Indiana which dropped us to 3, and our loss to Wisc dropped us to 4. A loss tomorrow risks dropping us out of the top 5, depending on what happens with everyone else at the top.

I wouldn't say Gonzaga will bow out early as usual. They have a couple sweet 16's under their belt. What I will say is, for Gonzaga and other mid-major teams the regular season rankings don't matter as much. Gonzaga has typically (except one year, I believe) actually been ranked lower in the tournament than their regular season end ranking. i.e. If Gonzaga ends the year ranked fifth overall, I would not expect them to get a #2 seed in the tourney. That's one thing I love about basketball, their is a committee which gets it 98% right without outside pressure influencing them. The last 5 years especially they have really honed their craft (yes, insert comments about Gene Smith being on the committee here).

I can definitely live with 4th place. However, not getting a single 1st place vote when Duke has so many and even Gonzaga has a few is absoloutely ridiculous. Imho, Indiana and Miami are the only teams deserving of a #1 vote...for now.